Australia rejects UN calls to stop jailing children

Australia has rejected global pressure to stop jailing kids as young as 10 years old, as its record on children was lashed as an “international disgrace”.

Responding to a United Nations report on Australia’s human rights record, Canberra also dismissed demands to end offshore processing of refugees.

In a UN Human Rights Council periodic review released in January, more than 30 countries called for Australia to raise the threshold for criminal responsibility to 14.

Currently, children as young as 10 are able to be charged with a criminal offence under the law.

But in what amounted to a rejection, Australia “noted” the recommendation, stressing responsibility for the threshold was shared between the Commonwealth and states.

Change the Record co-chair Cheryl Axleby said Australia disproportionately condemned Indigenous children to “cruel and harmful” treatment behind bars, where they were disconnected from their culture and their families.

“Australia’s treatment of First Nations peoples, and our children, is a national and international disgrace,” she said.

Just under 500 children aged between 10 and 13, two-thirds Indigenous, were detained in Australia’s youth justice system in 2019-20, according to Amnesty International.

New Zealand and England also allowed 10-year olds to face criminal charges, while children as young as 6 can be considered criminally responsible in some American jurisdictions.

But the UN recommended 14 as the minimum age for criminal responsibility, while a 2008 study found the median age internationally was 13.5.

Australia also rejected UN recommendations to end offshore detention, saying they had been “noted” but would not be “considered further at this time”.

The federal Government argued that offshore detention, along with boat turnbacks, were vital to deterring the people-smuggling trade.

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke has insisted no one arriving by boat would be resettled on the mainland.

But Amnesty national director Samantha Klintworth said despite “eight years and thousands of lives damaged”, roughly 230 refugees remained in offshore detention.

“This policy is a human rights catastrophe and a clear violation of international law,” Klintworth said.